


Under The Sea

by xoxolarrystylinson



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Harry's a fisherman, Louis is a mermaid, M/M, Not really anything else
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-02-21
Packaged: 2018-01-08 14:00:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1133472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xoxolarrystylinson/pseuds/xoxolarrystylinson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis likes hang out dangerously close to the surface of the water; something that's frowned upon with his kind. And Harry just likes to fish for hours on end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've done in about a year so still getting back into writing. Ahead is short but it's only the prologue.

He's six years old and water is his fascination. Some may think of it to be a dumb one at that, "It's clear and tasteless," is the deadpan response they get when shared it with anyone outside of the family. Harry's family doesn't mind, he's merely a child and there could be worse things to be interested in.

A close eye is always kept on him around bodies of water because Harry doesn't see the dark suffocating danger in it, he sees the beautiful reflection of the sun, almost blinding, and the warm feel of it during the summer days and the make of a face, below the surface of the ocean, of a boy about his age with blue eyes; the color matching to the clear blue of the water. 

"Don't fall over the edge, Harry." His father says over the roar of the small boat's engine taking them away from the coast of Grimsby. Harry was treading the tips of his fingers lightly over the water, playing in the sun's reflection and secretly hoping to get a peek at the boy with the blue eyes. 

"I won't." He replies with no commitment. He figures since he's wearing a life jacket, it shouldn't matter. 

The boat comes to a stop, the engine cutting off with a sad sounding purr. Harry's father moves from the back of the boat where he was steering it, to the front to get a better visual on what'll be biting his bait. 

"You wanna grab your pole and sit up here?" His dad offers, he'd have to string the bait on the end of the hook anyway. 

"Maybe later." Harry mumbles in reply, to which his dad turns back around to focus on his own fishing, leaving Harry tracing circles in the water, his other hand resting on the edge of the boat with his head resting on the hand. 

Harry's zoning out, just staring into the water mindlessly, when those blue eyes come into his view, making him perk up. Suddenly it's not only the blue eyes, this time there's brown hair and the rest of his face to go with it. And a hand reaching forward, with the prettiest seashell he's ever seen; he wants it and the boy is ready to give it to him. It seems the boy has come as far as he dares, which is only a few inches from the surface, Harry reaches down as far as he can, struggling to reach further than his arm is letting him. He's sees what's stopping him and reaches down, unclipping the life jacket, shedding it from his body and reaching forward. Harry has such tunnel vision for the seashell he doesn't notice he's more than over the side than he is on the boat, and suddenly his feet aren't on the floor of the boat they're following him into the water.

Face to face and the boy isn't anything like Harry imagined the rest of him to be, for one he has a tail coated with iridescent scales instead of legs. The seashell matching perfectly to his tail. The boy holds out the shell once more, still offering it to Harry. 

Harry reaches forward, hesitant, he's face to face with a boy with a tail for god's sake. Grabbing hold of it at the last second, as his father pulls him out of the water. For those few moments, he didn't even think about how he couldn't breathe or how much trouble he'd be in. All that matters is that know he knows the boy isn't a figment of his imagination as he clutches tightly to the shell, careful not to drop it while his father situates him back on the boat, panic, anger, but mostly relief written on his aged face. 

That was the last time he saw the boy with the tail for a few years.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a beta yet so please excuse any mistakes!

The next time Harry sees the boy, he's nineteen and he's gone through some drastic changes. For one, he now knows he isn't interested in females anymore due to his first hookup with his girlfriend at age sixteen. It was awkward, not in the "I'm a virgin, I don't know what to do" way, more like "Girls are nice but I've realized I'm not sexually attracted to them, what have I gotten myself into?" In the end, the girl went home with damaged self esteem, even after Harry tried to assure her numerous times, the problem really was him. 

Pushing the button to slide the windows down, Harry breathes in the fresh air smelling of salt annoucing he's close to the coast. Of course, as he's been back a lot more lately, he already knows. Turning the volume button to his radio almost all the way up, the mixtape his friend made for him blasting through the car and out the open windows to the tourists walking along the sidewalks. 

Harry parks his car closest to the old dock, where the beach is more secluded, and where his boat is docked so he knows no one is going to touch it as it's such a hassle to tow it all the way back to Holmes Chapel to leave with his parents, no alternative as they obviously don't let boats sit in the college parking lot. Plus he likes to go out on the boat every weekend now so he'd rather spare the almost three hour drive. 

As most fishermen would change into the plastic coveralls to insure their dryness and warmth. Harry doesn't really find that necessary, he's wearing shit clothes anyways; pair of gray sweatpants and a white tee shirt. He does, however replace his white converses by slipping on a pair of black wellies, cold and wet feet aren't really enjoyable and quite hard to avoid.

He sings to softly to himself while he grabs his fishing pole, cooler filled with ice, and the bag from the center console that holds his lunch; a couple of water bottles, an orange and a granola bar. Even though he's been on the water since he was little, Harry is still prone to being seasick and from previous experience he definitely doesn't want it to happen again. 

Ten minutes later, he's zooming over the water towards where his father always took him out - not too far from the coast but in seclusion so he didn't hook anyone accidentally.

Harry throws out his line and there's nothing else to do but wait now. He glances up and notices for the first time in a while the sky is clear, nothing but blue sky, giving him direct sunlight. He can feel it warming his curls and his back where it's hitting him through his thin shirt. It's nice, he thinks to himself as he closes his eyes and let's his mind drift off. That is, until he feels a pull on the end of the line, he pulls back on the rod and starts reeling so he doesn't loose the fish, or boot (wouldn't be his first time expecting a fish and it turning out to be trash). 

The end of the line breaches the top of the water and at the end there's a fish; flopping around, desperate for water to be running through it's gills. Harry puts the pole between his legs and carefully removes the fish from the hook, trying to hurt it least he can. Sure, it's going to be eaten but it doesn't need to be tortured while it's alive. 

The sun catches on the seashell thats hanging on a string from his neck and temporarily blinds him. "Damn it," Harry grumbles, nicking his finger on the end of the hook. Blood draws and Harry tosses the (now) dead fish into the cooler, hitting the ice with a thunk. 

There's blood dripping from his finger and he didn't realize how much one little cut could bleed. 

"Alright there?" A voice rings out, startling Harry. 

He turns around where the voice came from and sees a boy with a lovely smirk peeking over the side of the boat, "'M fine, just caught myself on the, uh," Harry is at a loss for words, the boy tilts his head to the side curiously and he's honestly the most beautiful person Harry's laid eyes on. Never has he evee believed in love at first sight or soulmates or any of that "crap", but boy may be changing his mind and he's only said all of two words to Harry.

Harry's eyes are glued to the boy, blood still dripping down his finger. The boy looks around the floor of the boat, then looks back to Harry pointing to his left. Harry looks to his left and sees the first aid kit laying there, "Right," he says, feigning a smile for coming across as a knobhead, the boy must think he has no sense. 

Harry sits down on the bench stretching across the width of the boat and runs his finger through the water to rinse the blood from it, then taking the hem of his shirt and drying it off. There's a silence but he knows the boy hasn't left yet and he needs to start speaking now, he doesn't want him going anywhere yet. 

Pulling a bandaid from the first aid kit, he clears his throat, "So what're you doing out here? You're a little far from the shore to be swimming about." 

"Don't worry about me. I doubt I'll drown." The boy answers nonchalantly. 

"Expert swimmer or something like that, yeah?" Harry jokes, putting the bandages trash in the plastic bag holding his lunch, dinner if need be, he doesn't care how long he has to stay out here as long as the boy will stay. 

"Something like that."

The boy smirks and he has to know his name,"Manners, right, sorry, I'm Harry." Harry offers his hand out. 

"Louis." The boy answers back with a smile, he leans foward to take Harry's hand when Harry notices how blue Louis' eyes are and he's pretty sure he's staring again. 

"Have I- have we ever met before?" 

"I don't think so, sorry mate." Louis replies, pretty sure about it.

"Maybe I've just seen you 'round, then." Harry shrugs and settles back down onto the bench, "You wanna come up here? Aren't your legs getting tired?"

Louis flashes his perfectly - Harry's pretty sure everything about this boy is perfect - white teeth and Harry and chuckles lightly, "Water's warmer plus I should be going." 

"When will I see you again?" Harry questions quickly. 

"Not sure. You'll just have to hope you will." Louis adds with a wink. 

Harry doesn't want him to leave, he just wants to sit here the rest of the day and get to know him. He reaches up to mess with his necklace nervously, a habit he's developed since he was a kid when he strung this necklace. He was so proud that he'd done it by himself, he talked about it for a week straight and showed everyone. 

When he looks back up, he sees Louis is focused on his necklace slipping back and forth through his fingers. 

"Your necklace ... where'd you, uh, where'd you get it?" Louis spoke up again, all playfulness missing from his voice. 

Harry might not remember much from when he was a child, most his birthdays and Christmases, but he definitely remembers the boy who gave him this seashell. He wonders where the boy is now, most days he comes out and hopes to see him but he hasn't seen him since he's started coming back out here so he's pretty much lost all hope by now. 

"A friend. He gave me this shell when I was a kid. Haven't seen him in a while though." Harry smiles sadly, feeling nostalgic. 

There's a small splash and Louis is gone. 

Harry stands up, wondering if he really got away that quickly and quietly, "Louis?" He calls out. He looks all around the side of the boat and even off aways but there's no peep of a brown head above the water anywhere. 

Harry sighs, running a hand through his warm curls. 

He goes home thinking about Louis, eats dinner thinking about Louis, takes a shower thinking about Louis - not that way, he barely knows him, even though he really might want to, and goes to bed thinking about him. And that night he dreams of Louis, hoping he'll get to see him again.


	3. Chapter 3

Louis is swimming faster than he probably ever has, searching frantically for his best friend, Zayn. His head is racing, he gave up hope of seeing Harry again after he stopped coming.

After swimming past the cave Zayn's family lives in - his family reporting he's not there, he finds him a little bit aways chatting up a random girl. 

Zayn standing with his back to Louis, he clears his throat awkwardly, alerting Zayn of his presence. 

He turns around throwing a glance at Louis that tells him to piss off, "I'm a little busy, Lou, we can talk later." Then turning back around to the girl who has now, oh god, she's twirling her hair, Louis isn't leaving for this. 

"I'll wait." Louis insists with a smug smile knowing that this is the end for Zayn and the seemingly desperate girl. 

Zayn whispers something in the girl - no doubt something about seeing her later when in fact he'll probably avoid her as seeing her would remind him of this embarrassment. She gives Louis a less than impressed look before she swims away. 

"You're gonna pay for that," Zayn remarked. 

"I'll that in stride as I could care less about your hookups with random whores. Besides, you'll never believe who I just saw." 

"That guy who never came back to see you after you totally poured your heart out to him and confessed your love to him?" He retorted with a teasing smirk. 

"Not that prick, no. Green eyes, Zayn." Louis can't keep the smile from spreading across his face. 

"That boy you almost killed trying to give that shell?" 

Louis crosses his arms, raising an eyebrow, "It was an accident, I was a kid, how was I suppose to know that not everyone could breathe underwater?" 

He'll probably never admit this to anyone else - Zayn and Liam being the only ones who know, but after seeing Harry he never stopped talking about him. From aged eight to twenty one, his mind was constantly on Harry.

Zayn lets his body drift a few feet down, settling down on a rock that's peeking out of the ocean floor. "So I'm guessing this kid looks pretty good by now considering the blush that hasn't left your face since you snuck up on me." 

"Good is an understatement." Louis giggles. 

"I know what's happening, Lou, this isn't good for you or him," Zayn sits up concerned, "He's not like us, it'd never work." 

"I'm not falling in love with him." Lie. "I hardly know him." He argues.

"You just giggled for godssake."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm hardly a manly man, Zayn." 

Zayn nods I'm agreement then shrugs it off, back to the matter at hand. "You know I love you and I just want the best for you. I know how you are, Louis, you can't see him again or it's just downhill from there." 

It's pretty already heading downhill, Louis ponders, no one can stop him he's going to see Harry again. It's the first time he's seen him in years, of course he's going back. 

"Plus," Zayn adds, "Liam would flip out if he knew you were going to the surface. Let alone talking to the others." 

"It's a good thing Liam doesn't know then. Let's just keep it between us, yeah? Please, Zayn." Louis begs. 

"I won't tell him." Zayn mumbles. 

Louis is about to thank Zayn, relieved to say the least - Liam can be a bit of a drama queen - when Zayn interrupts him, "And I know I can't stop you from going back to see him so just be careful at least, alright?" 

Louis knows he doesn't mean just physically either.

"I will, Z. I've gotta get back home, mum needs me to watch the girls." Louis presses a kiss to the top of Zayn's head and hurries off home.

*~*~*~*~*

"Phebs, Daisy, time for bed." Louis announces, swimming into their room. 

"Tell us a story?" Daisy asks. 

"Please, boobear!" Phoebe mocks of the nickname their mum, Jay, labeled Louis from when he was a baby. 

Louis narrows his eyes in a joking matter at Phoebe, "We don't speak of that name." He sits down on the end of her bed. 

"Anyways, hmm, where should I start?" Louis rattles his brain for a movie idea. 

Daisy and Phoebe await with bright eyes for Louis to start. 

"Right. So there's a girl and a boy, and they were neighbors. And when they were kids they'd play together like everyday, they were for the most part bestfriends. Friendship bracelets and all. Then one day out of the blue the boy's parents decided to move away, taking him with them. But the girl didn't know the boy had left so day after day she'd wait for the boy to come outside, ultimately giving up a few months later." 

"That can't be the end of the story." Daisy mumbles sleepily. 

"Well, years later the boy moves back, right next to them. The girl still living at home and happens to see, she goes over to greet the new neighbor having no idea who it was. He opens the door and he immediately knows who it is, "Don't you remember me?" He asks her, to which she shakes her head in confusion. He raises the wrist that still has the tattered friendship bracelet, taped to keep it together, which matches the girl's." Louis finishes.

"Then they kiss and live happily ever after, right?" Phoebe asks. 

"That's the end for now." Louis answers solemnly. "I'll continue it for you soon though. Goodnight, girls."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiii guys so I'm sorry this took a while to get out but alas, here it is. x
> 
> P.s. if you'd like to contact me, my twitter is louistomlindom and my tumblr is larrytwinkstylinson.

Another weekend and Harry finds himself driving to the shore, speeding is more lke it, more than excited to see Louis. Harry slows down considerably once he sees he's going nearly 20 over the speed limit, a ticket would only slow him down. 

It's crazy in Harry's mind but the only thing he's been able to think about for the past few weeks is Louis' blue eyes, his slightly built but also small frame, the way he pushes his sopping wet fringe back from his eyes when water starts dripping into his eyes, and even the way you can literally see his accent with the way he forms words sometimes. 

Harry's been sure to come see Louis everyday he can for the past three weeks, it's hardly even for fishing anymore, just pure hoping he'll run into the blue eyed boy. 

Loading the boat, it's like there's two little Harrys sitting on each of his shoulders, one being the good one saying, "He's a human being too, H, I know how you think about him, you can't think about him and only him all the time." The other one being the guilt filled do whatever you want one, "Yes, you can. You know he's the most beautiful thing you've ever layed eyes on and you want him more than anything." Harry shakes his head and they disappear, yep, this boy is definitely driving Harry mad. 

Louis looks up and sees the shadow of a boat on the surface; the one with the red stripe down the bottom, it's Harry. He can't even try to contain the way his heart speeds up at just the thought of Harry up there, more or less waiting for him.

When Louis slowly pokes his head out of the water he sees Harry is facing away from him, line from the pole disappearing into the water. 

"Boo." Louis chimes more to alert Harry of his presence than to scare him. 

"Louis!" Harry turns around suddenly, rocking the boat while trying to keep the excitement out of his voice. 

"How's the fishing going?" 

Harry sighs turning to him and leaving the pole rested on the side of the boat, "Slow day, caught two, today's more of a day to think I guess. How's the swimming treating you?" 

"I guess you could say its going swimmingly." Louis says with a giggle, cheeks shading a rosy color. 

It's funny how a giggle would normally have Harry rolling his eyes - there's hardly anything that's more annoying than a girl who only giggles but coming from Louis, it makes his stomach flip and flop every which way. 

It takes a hard swallow to clear his mouth, "See normally I'm the one making bad puns. But my friends always make fun of me," under his breath he says, "clearly can't appreciate quality humor." He jokes.

"I had you pinned from the beginning, I figured you'd be a goofball."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Harry objects, feigning a hurt ego.

"Oh, I don't know," Louis waves his hand around, "It could be your floppy hair that always falls into your eyes. Or your huge green eyes that make you look like you should be a kid or the way you walk with two left feet, constantly tripping-" 

"Mum said I was piegon toed and I was perfectly fine just the way I was." 

"Defensive, are we? I wasn't making fun of you, Harry, just things about you I've picked up." Louis states.

There's quiet for a moment, Harry knows Louis isn't done. 

"If I were to be completely honest, it's kind of, well.." 

"Spit it out, Lou." 

"Adorable." Louis admits with a blush. 

"You think I'm adorable? Well I'm flattered really but-" 

"Wait, did you call me Lou?" Louis realizes Harry's past statement. 

Harry rubs the back of his neck, it was an accident really but maybe he should be more careful of what he's saying, "I dont think I did, I mean maybe."

"Harry, you will be the death of me." He says, it comes out more flirty than he planned but that's alright with both of them, with a shake of his head as if he's trying to hide the huge smile that's stretching across his face. 

"Well since we're on the subject, do you think you'd wanna, um, go out for d-dinner or something of the sort?" Harry silently curses the awkward shy personality he's always had and waits for Louis' response. 

"Harry." Louis says sadly. 

Harry seems to realize he's being turned down, "Oh. Okay. I get it. I'm sorry, are you not, uh, are you not into-"

"Guys? No, I definitely am. And Harry trust me, I want to so bad, I just can't. There's something huge in the way." Harry would never guess the thing holding Louis back is a tail that's slicing through the water as they speak. 

"You don't have to explain yourself, Lou- Louis." Harry catches himself and Louis could swear he heard his own heart break. 

Now Harry seems distant, doesn't even seem to want Louis there. "I think I should call it a day. I'll see you next week, yeah?"

"Yeah." Louis agrees softly.


End file.
